With all the hoopla surrounding the announcement
of the iPhone 3G, it’s pretty easy for other new products to get lost in
all the madness. HP is looking to generate a bit of buzz of its own with two
new computing products, but it unfortunately doesn’t have the power of the
press to generate the insatiable tongue wagging that comes with a new Apple
release.
That being said, HP’s latest new high-end products cover both the desktop and notebook fronts
in the form of the Voodoo Omen gaming desktop and the Voodoo Envy 133 business
laptop.
For gamers that have no limit on how much they are willing
to spend on a gaming rig, look no further than Voodoo Omen. The towering
desktop features a customizable, all-aluminum case design which can be optioned
with Voodoo Allure paints and glass, leather, or wood side panels. Other
exterior adornments include a 7" color auxiliary display (800x480) built
into the front of the case to display game stats, movies, music videos, etc.
Other features include the ability to rotate the motherboard
to plug in system cables from the top of the case, tool-less side panels, eight
Voodoo Ink laser engraving designs, RGB accent lighting, and the ability to
choose from five different colors for the liquid coolant.
When it comes to hard specs, the Voodoo Omen comes equipped
with an ASUS Striker Extreme II motherboard which is paired with either an
Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core 3.20GHz QX9770 or 3.00GHz QX9650 processor. Up
to 8GB of 1600 MHz CORSAIR PC-14400 DDR3 can be ordered with the system as
well. As expected with a high-end gaming rig, the Voodoo Omen supports NVIDIA
SLI and ATI CrossFireX graphics options.
For those that truly want to splurge on storage options, the
Voodoo Omen can be equipped with up to six 64GB Samsung single-level cell (SLC)
solid-state drives (SSDs).
The customizable nature of the Voodoo Omen's chassis and the
wealth of hardware choices mean that the gaming rig starts at a whopping
$6,500. Checking off every option on the spec sheet will cause the price to
balloon to $20,000.
On the notebook side of things, Voodoo is also announcing
its 13.3" Envy 133. The notebook is just 0.70 inches thick (making it
thinner than a MacBook
Air) and weighs 3.373-pounds. Despite its thin chassis and light weight,
Voodoo managed to cram quite a potent processor under the hood along with
enough connectivity options to make certain Mac owners a bit jealous.
Processing power comes from either an Intel Core 2 Duo
SP7000 (1.8GHz) or SP7500 (1.6GHz) processor. The 13.3" WXGA display is
LED-backlit and is powered by an integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor.
Storage options include your choice of an 80GB 4200 RPM HDD or a 64GB SDD while
optical duties are handled by an eSATA Super-Multi drive.
Voodoo also takes a page from Apple's playbook by including
a gesturing touchpad which supports “multiple finger tracking, supporting
chiral scrolling, pinch and momentum gestures”.
When it comes to port selection and wireless options, Voodoo
doesn't disappoint. The Voodoo Envy comes equipped with one USB 2.0 port, one
eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port, an ExpressCard 34 slot, and HDMI. Wireless duties are
handled by an Intel 802.11n adapter and Bluetooth 2.0 is also included -- integrated mobile broadband is optional. As an
added bonus, the Voodoo Envy's power adapter doubles as a WiFi access point.
The Voodoo Envy starts at $2,099.
